Purpose

Microsoft Windows Installer is an installation and configuration service that reduces the total cost of ownership.

Windows Installer enables customers to provide better corporate deployment and provides a standard format for component management. The installer supports the advertisement of applications and features according to the operating system. For more information, see Platform Support of Advertisement.

This documentation describes Windows Installer 4.5 and earlier versions. Not all the capabilities available in later Windows Installer versions are available in earlier versions. This documentation does not describe versions earlier than Windows Installer 2.0.

Beginning with Windows Installer 3.0, multiple patches can be installed with a single transaction that integrates installation progress, rollback, and reboots. The installer can apply patches in a constant order regardless of the order that the patches are provided to the system.

Patches installed with Windows Installer 3.0 or later can be uninstalled in any order to leave the state of the product the same as if the patch was never installed. Patching using Windows Installer 3.0 only updates files affected by the patch and can be significantly faster than earlier installer versions.

Accounts with administrator privileges can use Windows Installer 3.0 functions to query and inventory product, feature, component, and patch information; and to read, edit, and replace Installer source lists for network, URL, and media sources. Administrators can enumerate across user and install contexts, and manage source lists from an external process.

Installation packages and patches that are created for Windows Installer 2.0 can be installed by using Windows Installer 3.0.

Where Applicable

Windows Installer enables the efficient installation and configuration of your products and applications. The installer provides new capabilities to advertise features without installing them, to install products on demand, and to add user customizations.

Developer Audience

This documentation is intended for software developers who want to make applications that use Windows Installer. It provides general background information about installation packages and the installer service. It contains complete descriptions of the application programming interface and elements of the installer database. This documentation also contains supplemental information for developers who want to use a table editor or a package creation tool to make or maintain an installation.

Run-Time Requirements

Windows Installer ships with Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.

Windows Installer 4.5 requires Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and later, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and later.

Windows Installer 4.0 requires Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. There is no redistributable for installing Windows Installer 4.0 on other operating systems. An updated version of Windows Installer 4.0, which does not add any new features, is available in Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008.

Windows Installer 3.1 requires Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3).

Windows Installer 3.0 requires Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 SP3. Windows Installer 3.0 is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). It is available as a redistributable for Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3) and Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 (SP4), Windows XP RTM and Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), and Windows Server 2003 RTM.

Windows Installer Redistributables are available for Windows Installer 4.5 and earlier versions. There is no redistributable available for Windows Installer 4.0.

Windows Installer 2.0 is contained in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.

Windows Installer 2.0 is available as a package for installing or upgrading to Windows Installer 2.0 on Windows 2000. This package should not be used to install or upgrade Windows Installer 2.0 on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.

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Build date: 6/5/2008